By Clint Rainey
The Justice Department’s ambitious bid to stop Penguin Random House (click here) from buying rival publisher Simon & Schuster has started taking on more of the trappings of a legal thriller.
It was already one of the biggest, most unexpected antitrust cases of President Biden’s tenure—in which the DOJ is arguing that Penguin, the largest publisher, merging with Simon & Schuster, the fourth largest, will hurt industry competition, cut authors’ advances, and reduce the variety of books available to consumers. But as Penguin reinforced in its pretrial brief submitted on Friday, a copy of which was shared with Fast Company, the publishing giant believes the complete opposite: that this deal will result in higher advances for authors and more choices for consumers....
It was already one of the biggest, most unexpected antitrust cases of President Biden’s tenure—in which the DOJ is arguing that Penguin, the largest publisher, merging with Simon & Schuster, the fourth largest, will hurt industry competition, cut authors’ advances, and reduce the variety of books available to consumers. But as Penguin reinforced in its pretrial brief submitted on Friday, a copy of which was shared with Fast Company, the publishing giant believes the complete opposite: that this deal will result in higher advances for authors and more choices for consumers....
The January 6th Committee needs to pen a letter to the Attorney General that there are pressing national security issues to be addressed now. I am quite confident the DOJ will be thrilled with all the evidence they requested while sending a letter.
